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- The pressure on the family was great, and in a dispute over the spoils of a hunting expedition, Temujin quarreled with and killed his half-brother, Bekhter, confirming his position as head of the family. At 16, Temujin married Borte, cementing the alliance between the Konkirat tribe and his own.
www.biography.com/political-figures/genghis-khan
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Marriage. Börte was the first wife of Temüjin. When Temüjin was 9 years old, his father Yesügei went in search of a wife for him. He set out to find a girl from Temüjin's mother's people, the Olqunu'ut, but along the way ran into Börte's father, Dei-Sechen.
- Overview
- Who was Börte?
- Women of influence
- A shrewd strategist
- Unsung heroines
As the legendary ruler's favored wife, Börte kept his massive camp in order—and advised him on everything from politics to military strategy.
Genghis Khan and his wife Börte sit on their thrones before courtiers in this artistic rendering from the book Jami' al Tawarikh (Universal History) by Rashid ad-Din. Börte was Genghis Khan's principal wife and the first queen of the powerful Mongol Empire.
Tents and animals. Horses and swords. The early days of the Mongol Empire were characterized by battle, conquest, and quick expansion, leading the people ruled by Genghis Khan to domination of the world’s largest contiguous empire.
But the great khan didn’t rule alone: His principal wife, Börte, was a critical player in the establishment of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. Here’s how the first Mongol empress exerted her influence—and why she and other women are among the empire’s unsung heroes.
Born around 1161 to the Olkhonoud tribe of what is now inner Mongolia, Börte was betrothed to the future emperor—known as Temüjin in his early years—as a child. Though details about her life are scant, historians know that she married Temüjin, who came from the Borjigin tribe, as a teenager. But their newlywed bliss was shortlived: soon after the marriage, Börte was abducted by a member of the Merkit tribe.
Bride kidnapping was common at the time, and rival tribes did so both to disrupt the lives of their enemies and to settle scores. By kidnapping Temüjin’s new wife, the Merkits were attempting to avenge a longstanding grievance: Temüjin’s mother, Hö’elün, had originally been married to a Merkit before she was abducted by Yesügei, Temüjin’s father.
Although such kidnappings usually resulted in the woman being forced to stay with her captor, Temüjin decided to pursue an unexpected course: Along with his close friend Jamukha, he managed a daring rescue of his new wife. This kicked off outright war between the Borjigins and the Merkits. The Borjigins eventually won, enslaving Merkits women and overtaking their territory, in 1200.
(Who were the Mongols? Here's how the empire was formed.)
Temüjin continued to conquer other tribes for decades, building the Mongols into a feared force that united warring tribes and overtook more and more territory. Meanwhile, Börte became his principal wife.
Over the years, the emperor would marry at least six women, amass hundreds of concubines, and have at least 13 children. But as his first and most favored wife, Börte was the most influential of them all, and her role as principal wife also entailed caring for her husband’s expanding empire.
Her importance would have been visible to all, says Anne Broadbridge, a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and the author of Women and the Making of the Mongol Empire. Principal wives managed their own ordo, or household, and were waited on by massive staffs. From concubines and lesser wives to herds of animals, shepherds, servants, and security guards, women’s households could number in the hundreds.
Their households may have been mobile as the nomadic group moved from destination to destination, but they were anything but compact. Instead, these households reached a dizzying scale that attracted the attention of chroniclers and the conquered, who left behind historical records of the women’s wealth. During the rule of Genghis Khan’s grandson, Kublai, for example, the households of the emperor’s four wives may have each included up to 10,000 people, including servants and staff. Wives also traveled with thousands of animals and hundreds of wagons.
(How Kublai Khan did what Genghis could not—conquer China.)
Principal wives like Börte would have occupied the choicest spot in camp, says Broadbridge. “The spatial hierarchy reflects the social hierarchy.”
But Börte’s influence extended far beyond her children and her yurt. Her place in the Mongol hierarchy offered her coveted access to her husband, who sought out her advice on everything from politics to military strategy.
She put that trust to good use, even when it came to the emperor’s closest friends. One of them was Jamukha, her husband’s closest friend who had helped him save her after she was kidnapped and who eventually became khan of the Jadaran. When Börte saw signs that the friends’ alliance was crumbling, she advised her husband to break off the friendship, and in 1204 Temüjin defeated Jamukha in battle and had him executed.
(This empress was the most dangerous woman in Rome.)
Another political intervention had to do with Teb Tenggeri, a shaman who was one of the khan’s close companions. Teb had predicted Temüjin’s rise to power, and thus seemed entitled to a role in the khan’s court. When he publicly insulted Temüjin’s brother, though, Börte drew the line and insisted that her husband severely punish the shaman.
Though archaeological evidence of the Mongol Empire’s enterprising women is scant, says Broadbridge, historical accounts point to the importance of Mongol wives. While men engaged in battle and scouted out new places to conquer, women managed most aspects of daily life both in the battle camps that supported warriors in the field and in more permanent encampments that expanded along with the empire.
(India's warrior queen didn't back down from the British.)
Part ambassador, part adviser, part administrator, Börte established the role of a Mongol empress. She even managed to rise above rumors that her firstborn son, Jochi, was the biological son of her Merkit captor and not Genghis Khan. And though most of her life still lays in shadow, she’s an example of the important role women played in the empire’s establishment and daily life.
Genghis Khan may have had a wife he could trust, says Broadbridge—but he and the rest of the Mongols also needed her, along with the other women in their rapidly expanding sphere. “Without the women in the Mongol Empire, there wouldn’t have been an empire.”
Jul 13, 2015 · Temujin lost his father in early ages at an early age, but despite all odds he managed to marry Borte within the required time frame. She always supported Temujin whether during troubled years when his tribe members, friends and relatives turned against him or when he achieved the first victories over enemies and became the leader of the Mongol ...
Mar 15, 2018 · When she was only 10 years old, her father, the leader of the Konyrat tribe engaged her to the son of the Kiyat-Bordzhigin family, Temujin, who would later come to be known as Genghis Khan. They waited until they turned 17 (the minimum age to consummate their marriage) to get married, and then Khan took Borte to live with him.
Jun 24, 2024 · Marriage to Temüjin Tribe. Börte’s marriage to Temüjin, who later became Genghis Khan, would change her life and affect the Mongol Empire’s beginnings. At just nine, Yesügei, Temüjin’s father, sought a wife for his son. He chose Börte’s father, Dei-Sechen, from the Onggirat tribe.
Sep 3, 2023 · Despite knowing that Temujin’s family had declined, Börte’s parents showed no reluctance or regret and happily married their daughter to him. At the age of 18, he journeyed for two or three days along the Kerulen River from a thousand miles away to find Börte’s home.
Börte and Temüjin were married as children, and shortly afterward, she was abducted by the rival Merkid confederation, and stayed with them several months before Temüjin recovered her. (Abductions such as this were common among steppe peoples.) Jochi was born shortly afterwards.
